Sports Round-up: Blue Devils Take Down Germantown Academy

The Chestnut Hill Academy baseball team has been on a mission all year long with one goal in mind—to win the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament.

With a 9-1 win over archrival Germantown Academy in the Thursday’s quarterfinal showdown, the Blue Devils inched closer to their goal.

CHA pitcher Tim Menninger held the potent Patriots to just one run on five hits and three walks in six innings of work. Matt Primavera sparked CHA’s offense by going 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. He stretched the Blue Devils’ lead to 9-0 with a two-run home run in the fourth.

On Wednesday, the Blue Devils and Patriots wrapped up their regular season Inter-Ac League series. CHA mercy-ruled G.A. 12-2 behind Christian Salem’s strong performance on the mound (five innings pitched, five hits, two runs, two strikeouts, two walks) and the six runs that Dan Rosenbaum drove in. Rosenbaum went 2-for-3, including a triple and a grand slam home run.

On Tuesday, in the first round of the Independent Schools playoffs, Menninger shut down Germantown Friends’ offense helping the Blue Devils win, 4-1. GFS ace Tyler Clausen-Wolf took the loss. Sam Feirson went 2-for-3 with a run scored for CHA.

CHA’s win over GFS came just after a tough 2-0 loss to Malvern Prep last Saturday. With the win, Malvern clinched the Inter-Ac League title.

In Philadelphia Public League action, Germantown was ousted from the Class AAAA tournament with an 11-1 thrashing from Frankford in the second round. The Bears outslugged Overbrook en route to a 15-10 in the first round.

Heartbreak City

After taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning in Thursday’s Pennsylvania Independent Schools playoff semifinal showdown against host Abington Friends, Springside’s softball team saw its early advantage disappear in the fifth as Abington Friends exploded for six runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth en route to a 10-6 win.

The Lions finished the year 12-7 overall.

Gabby Garza picked up the win for Abington Friends. Springside hurler Michelle Cybularz was charged with the loss.

In more of a defensive effort, Abington Friends edged the Lions, 3-1, on March 18. The Lions committed three errors on Thursday, Abington Friends made four.

Cyburalz and company stepped up big time, though, in the Lions’ 2-0 win over Friends Central in the first round of the Independent Schools tournament. Alexis Giovinazzo’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth proved to be the difference.

The Lions ended the regular season winning five of its last six. They lost, 9-2, to Penn Charter in their regular season finale on Tuesday, but came up with a big 5-2 win over Notre dame on Monday, a 13-1 win over Baldwin last Saturday and a 13-3 victory over Germantown Academy on May 13.

Springside’s Resnya Hughes went 3-for-3 with an RBI against Notre Dame. Hughes’ teammate Asha Dean went 2-for-3 and scored three times against G.A.

Close, but no cigar

Germantown Friends School nearly rallied past Friends Central in last Friday’s Friends School League girls’ lacrosse final.

Nearly.

After falling behind 6-2 in the opening 25 minutes, the Tigers (8-9 overall) stormed back in the second half with five goals and almost came out with the title.

It was the third year in a row that Friends Central beat GFS in the final. Friends Central crushed the Tigers, 13-2, in last year’s championship game. In 2009, GFS beat Friends Central in the final. The Tigers won it all the year before too.

Irish Williamson powered GFS’ offense with a game-high five goals. Hannah Drake and Lilly Tyson each added one goal apiece.

Emma Dahle and Ashley Tedesco each scored four goals for Friends Central. Allie Wirshba had one.

The loss came on the heels of the Tigers’ impressive 17-12 win over Shipley last Tuesday in the semifinals. The Tigers led 11-9 by the break and held Shipley to just three goals in the second half to stretch their lead.

Annie Morrisey led GFS with five goals, all of which came in the first half. Williamson finished with four goals while Isabelle Didio earned a hat trick. Drake and Lyles Swift-Farley each collected two goals apiece. Anna Beyahler added one.

Springside’s girls’ lacrosse team did not have the same sort of success the Tigers had this year. The Lions finished their season with 16 losses, including a 13-3 loss to Penn Charter on Tuesday, a 19-6 loss to Notre Dame on Monday and a 16-8 loss to Germantown Academy on May 13.

Ellis-Watson, Costarino find themselves in good

After a tremendous Pennsylvania Independent Schools track and field championship meet, Springside School’s Taylor Ellis-Watson has found herself in good company. As of last Sunday, her time of 54.76 seconds was ranked first in Pennsylvania and 27th in the United States in the 400-meter dash. The senior’s time of 24.13 seconds was ranked second in the state and 34th in the country in the 200 dash.

Up and coming Springside star Jamie Costarino, who is only in eighth grade, is ranked first in the state and 15th in the nation in the 3,200 run (11:53.17). Her time of 5:26.45 in the 1,600 is also the best time in the state and 18th overall in the country.